


It Was an Honest Mistake

by Ferith12



Series: Partners [3]
Category: DCU
Genre: Bruce Guilt, Everything Could Have Been Avoided, Gen, How Do I Tag Characters for This?, I Need to Write Action, I Never Write Action, If Bruce Trusted the Circus More and CPS Less, Misunderstandings, Why am I so cruel?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-28 12:34:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6329371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ferith12/pseuds/Ferith12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How could he have known that Haley's was a family?  He was used to dealing with facts and lines.  With numbers and statistics.  He was not used to a peoples' undying loyalty to a lifestyle, to a home, loyalty that transcended things like comfort and wealth.<br/>It was an honest mistake.<br/>But it was a devastating one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Was an Honest Mistake

It was an honest mistake.

That's what Batman reminded himself years afterward.

There was no way he could have known better.

That's what Bruce reminded himself when everything fell apart.

There was hardly any reason to blame himself.

Because here were the facts: 

The people of Haley's lived in barely adequate accommodations, sometimes up to six people in one tiny trailer.

The people of Haley's were provided with only the barest necessities of food and clothing.  They were not paid.

Haley's Circus would pick up stray kids, sometimes, the ones that no one would miss, and put them to work.

Haley himself had an account in his name worth nearly a million dollars.

Who wouldn't peg Haley as an abuser of human rights?  Who wouldn't mark him out as a criminal and do his very best to see him put behind bars?

 

There were also facts that Bruce had no way of knowing, some of them he never found out.  

 

It would have been helpful if he had known them before he went and stuck his nose into the Circus's business.

Because here were the facts:

The performers at Haley's stayed because they didn't care about things like money.

The performers at Haley's stayed because they loved what they did and they loved the Circus, this circus, their home.

Haley's Circus collected strays because they needed a home, and Haley's was willing to be that.

The account in Haley's name was full of money set aside for in case someone had a medical emergency, or when a kid grew up and wanted to go to college or otherwise start a life for himself.

 

If Bruce had known these things to begin with, things would have been different.  But Bruce hadn't known.  And that wasn't his fault.  He had no reason to blame himself.

Except Bruce was Batman, and it was Batman's business to know everything.

 

Regardless, Batman hadn't known.  And so when the Graysons fell, leaving behind one tiny eight-year-old, the last thing he wanted was for the boy to remain with the circus.  Thus it was that Batman made sure that Dick Grayson was immediately put into the hands of Child Protective services.  Thus it was that Bruce Wayne's lawyers shut down every one of Haley's, or any other circus member's, custody pleas while Batman continued his investigation.  And Bruce, being Bruce, didn't realize just how genuine Haley's grief was until he'd gotten other people involved and the circus was forced to leave before all the children that belonged to Haley's in love but not in law were forced into Gotham's broken (really broken is too kind a word) system.  And Batman, being Batman, handed off the little boy with wide blue eyes to CPS and considered his work done.  Because really, Dick was just one of far, far too many orphans of Gotham, and in no way Batman's responsibility.  Because Batman didn't particularly trust the system, but he never thought to distrust it.  And so it wasn't until it was far too late that he learned that the child's caseworker thought it was okay to dump an innocent little boy into the prison that made even some residents of Arkham shudder.

 

It was an honest mistake.  

But in the aftermath, with the circus gone and the boy in Juvie, it was far from a harmless one.

Afterwards Dick would understand why Bruce did what he did, and he never blamed him, except maybe once or twice at the beginning.  Afterwards Dick would understand why the circus abandoned him, and he would never  _ever_ blame them.  But that didn't stop it hurting.

And no matter how many times he told himself he couldn't possibly have known better, Bruce would  _never_ forget that all that hurt, all the pain and sorrow of his broken little bird, was _his_ fault.

 


End file.
